What I Wish I Knew When I Started Piano

I made a whole bunch of mistakes when I first started learning piano. Hopefully you can learn from some of them to make your own journey faster.

Resources:
The music theory iceberg is from this (great) video by David Bennett:

Music:
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

[Slashco]

1. Hard pieces are a waste of time (when you're not at that level yet)
2. Dynamics are important
3. Metronomes are helpful
4. Learn to pedal
5. Sight reading can be fun (if you keep it up)
6. Learning some theory is worth it
7. You will get it eventually :)

[stalex]

But also, everybody in similar advise videos forgets to mention one thing.

Doing it the way you did, made you stick with it. And later, when you were interested, invested, had some kind of skill, only after that you really can see the purpose of all exercises and skills you've mentioned. There is a possibility, that when starting from scratch, doing it for the long term, hoping that after some years all those scales and chords just click together, burn you out faster, than that happens.

So just don't forget to enjoy the process of what you doing, and train and practice for the purpose of more enjoyment.

For most adult players it's a hobby, not a job

[zacharyspencer]

I agree with everything stated here. I've been playing for a year and a half and I realized about 2 months ago the biggest mistake I was making was pushing myself to play harder and harder pieces instead of getting the sight reading up. I'd basically memorize pieces and they would come out alright but then I'd think that I need to play a harder piece.

What was happening was my actual skill wasn't improving very much just my skill for a single song. What I started 2 months ago was basically playing much easier music (Alfred's rags and blues 2b, Alfred's pop music 2A, Adult piano adventures 2, Adult piano Christmas 1, Adult piano popular 1, and RCM level 1). With this I was learning around 4-6 songs a week. It's been MUCH more fun and I'm improving much faster. It's also making me want to play more because it's not as tedious.

I think my ego was telling me I was around a level 4 (but who knows with how piano levels work honestly they are the strangest leveling system I've ever seen for anything lol) but in reality if I'm not brute force rote memorization a song I'm probably a level 2 or maybe even a very high level 1.

Anyways I know this message is too long and probably almost no one will read it but in case you do. I appreciate your channel I know I give you crap all the time on it but I'm very impressed with all the stuff you accomplished and I can tell you're always grinding things that you like which I think is pretty cool. Take care.

[speedy]

Found this very inspiring, thanks! I started piano at 40 and am halfway through Alfred’s all in one book 2. Started on this journey in 2019! It has been tough and continues to be so, but I love it. My dream of being able to play is what keeps me going 👍

[andrewmc]

As an adult BJJ student (47) approaching three years in April it is so true how much progress you make by continuing to show up. On a daily basis it doesn't feel it as you continue to get smashed by your peers but relative to those starting after you it's apparent. Same is true as someone starting guitar and french..I won't be Django or Proust but there's zero question after the bjj experience that I just have to continue to show up

[djbraun]

I always looked up to people who spontaneously sat before a piano and started playing a great piece. One Day I started learning my favorite song and by remembering patterns I was able to play the hard piece relatively fast without even being able to read notes. To me it is a great success. Now, months later I am happy every time I play my favorite piece.

[clh]

This is all such great information. A good teacher to help guide you will increase your efficiency and cut your learning curve in half. They'll also catch technical mistakes early on, and help you develop good practice habits. The only thing you say I disagree with (as someone who learned "some" theory as a kid then had to relearn it all to play in bands & improvise), and has been teaching for 35 years -- learn theory out of the chutes, and integrate the theory by playing some pieces by ear, and every song you learn will make sense in a much shorter period of time and you'll HEAR the music more deeply. It's a language. Not integrating theory is like learning another language but ignoring syntax!

[johnlotsu]

Watching yr video actually encouraged me to start learning piano along with my daughter, who is taking piano lessons at school. Thanks!

[nopayments]

First step he is 100% correct, don't buy a toy. Buy something with weighted keys and a sustain or you will never learn .

[Grunfeld]

Thank you. The metronome tip is gold. Once I sussed how useful it became a regular to learning pieces.

[bifeldman]

This is nice, and good for him. He looks good at the instrument, has well formed hands, and a naturally quiet technique. I’d add to his list get a good teacher who is 1. a player himself/herself, and 2. is skilled with adult learners.

[chaosismylife]

Thank you Joel. Your videos gave me a bit of confidence to try to learn the piano and more importantly keep going when it gets difficult.
I'm about a year into the first Alfred book and it's coming along good.
I never thought I could learn anything new esp music. I was struggling bad in my life at the time. My confidence was at zero so it's been a real help to me, like a meditation to get my head straight and give me a focus. I'm certainly no Horowitz but enjoying the wee moments you get when it all starts to click and you don't think about what you are doing.
I would not have tried had I not seen your videos. Your energy and lack of ego is a credit to you. You are very genuine and honest in your approach. Top man!

[InstrumentManiac]

So many good tips here! Music is such a journey and a retrospective like this is very helpful.

21 years of music later and I can confirm... dynamics are the still most important & often overlooked thing 😂🤣

[quickpstuts]

Your first point is so true. I started off playing a fairly difficult song, but then started doing simpler songs and it taught me to adlib and do cool things over the melody because the chords were so simple and repetitive. I progressed so much playing those songs that used no more than 3 chords.

Learning basic theory is helpful, especially when you want to learn how to play your favorite songs. I mainly wanted to learn piano to play along with my favorite songs, so knowing theory helped me figure out the basic chords of most songs in 10-15 minutes. Not to mention if you like songs in a particular genre, you find so many songs use the same keys and chords.

[Cantbunkenstanx-xnou]

I think what's absolutely most essential for starting on piano is having good hand posture and developing strength, endurance, and finger dexterity first and foremost. My early piano instructor started me on the Hanon books and before I'd even start playing (starting with easy music for learning coordination and sight reading!), I'd warm up with bad a$$ drills up and down the scales, staccato and forte, pianissimo touch, etc., so piano playing has always been a fun exercise that sounded beautiful, and thus I'd enjoy working on newer and newer pieces! What matters is not focusing so much on playing specific pieces that you want to play, but enjoy simply playing piano. Plus, you won't play well if you have poor hand posture, are weak, and don't have the coordination necessary, let alone the ability to easily sight read, and it won't sound that great. Becoming a pianist is a really fun and addicting journey once your hands are developed and reading music becomes easier and easier!

[Snarkapotamus]

As someone with vision issues, sight reading is mostly a non-starter. I don't care that I ever learn someone else's song, I did it to create from my own mind. I know theory plenty well enough to compose but what I didn't know (coming from guitar) was the proper fingering of scales/chords...for that, I went to a piano teacher for a few lessons.

[hippophile]

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with playing "stretch pieces" that you love and might take a couple of months or more, PROVIDED you also play easier stuff and do the other things you mentioned. You can always put them aside and come back to them when you are more ready, and it might give you an idea of the sort of work/pieces that would help you with them.

Also find exercises or ways of playing them that make them more enjoyable... scales in thirds, for example, when you find scales boring, are a lot more fun than simple scales, and are useful too.

[saamor]

ive been playing piano for 14 years. I am 19. Dw, every single person struggles with learning a new piece. I still feel like a noob compared to many ppl on youtube, and everyone including you, inspires me to try even harder

one thing I learned though: most pieces are doable once you have the foundation (ofc not if it's a concerto). But what makes most people give up is the practice. anyone can learn a piece they want if they practiced. but it is hard to find the time to practice, so you don't try. so if you don't have time, just learn a few bars per day slowly. PRACTICE

[DoveDescendingMusic]

I believe if you can hear it in your head, you can play it!

You just need to learn the basic major minor patterns, be able to learn the difference and then spend time working it out.

The Super Mario melody for example (C major with some embellishments). If you can hear it in your head, sit down at the keys and allow yourself to be completely horrible, once you break that ceiling, you’ll start to work out more songs a little bit quicker each time!

[mangomosaics]

Thanks so much for this pep talk. Much needed! I've been teaching myself via Alfred's Adult, achievable Reinagle pieces and YouTube. I'm still in search of a local piano teacher who is comfortable teaching adults ! I think that would be a game changer!
Thanks for your advice 🙏🏾🧡🙏🏾